


Baby Grimm

by MinaZ



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Canon-Typical Violence, Cute Kids, Gen, Kid Fic, Kidnapping, mention of suicidal thoughts of background character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5314934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaZ/pseuds/MinaZ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick gets turned into a child. They've faced worse before, and no, this is absolutely not at all a competition on who is the best uncle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Renard

**Author's Note:**

> I've only watched to the middle of season three of Grimm so far. I'm just assuming that they tell Wu soon. Juliette is still around, Adalind is in Europe, Rosalee and Monroe life together. Just, put it where ever it fits best in your head canon :-)

Big gray eyes were looking up at Renard. The royal bastard took a step back. The eyes blinked at him, the lip underneath started to tremble.  
“Don't dare to start crying, Burkhardt,” he warned his Detective in a stern voice, which was of cause the worst thing he could have done. Before he could rectify his error, large tears spilled down the small, round cheeks and high pitched wailing filled the forest as the child before him dropped down onto the leafy floor and hid his face between his arms.  
“No, I...” Renard was at a loss. The boy kept sobbing. Behind him he could hear Hank and Wu crashing through the under wood. They came to an abrupt halt behind him.  
“Captain? Where is Nick? Who is that?” Griffins voice was tensed.  
“Look for yourself” Renard stepped out of the way and pointed at the huddled form in front of them. The crying had thankfully died down to low sniffling.  
Hank and Wu took a step closer. The boy was maybe five year old, had dark hair, light skin and was, even with tear tracks down his face, incredibly cute. He was wearing blue jeans and a tiny leather jacket. A jacket that looked like a miniature version of…  
The boy got up and was rubbing his eyes. On a thin belt the policemen could see a badge the size of quarter and a small, but very real looking gun holster, thankfully without a gun. One look at the slightly red eyes and Hank knew what happened.  
“Well, fuck.”  
“Language, Griffin.”  
“Sorry, Captain.”  
“Is that?”  
“Apparently.”  
“I think we hereby have finished the common fan fiction trope bingo. The alternative would have been tentacles, so it's probably for the best.” Wu mentioned calmly. Hank gave him a questioning look, but Sean knew better than to react.  
“Where is mommy and daddy?”  
Big gray eyes were looking at Renard again. Time to not make the same mistake twice.  
“Mommy and daddy had to go, Nick. But we will look after you, is that okay?”  
The boy looked at each of them, one after the other.  
He pointed at Griffin and Wu.  
“They are nice.”  
He pointed and Sean  
“You are mean.”  
Damn Wu for snickering.  
“Now listen...”  
Nick had gone still in front of him, body stiff, face pale, eyes wide in a way that Renard knew used to be his reaction when he was seeing a Woge, before the young (ha!) Grimm had gotten used to it. He was starring over the shoulder of the police Captain, who whirled around, raising the gun that was still in his hand. Dodging or sidestepping was not an option, not with a defenseless child right behind him, so he braced himself for an attack.  
Only a few meter away, up on a slope, stood a group of three Fuchsbau. They hesitated. Fuchsbau were fast and had sharp claws and teeth, but they were not necessary stronger than a fit human.  
Behind him, Sean could hear the rustling of small feet running through the leaves.  
“Wu, go after him!” he commanded, not taking his eyes of the group in front of him. 

As it turned out, the Fuchsbau were hiking and heard a child crying. They relaxed when Hank and Sean showed them their badges, only paused for a brief moment before showing their ID's. Renard had his doubt that they were involved with turning Nick into a child, or with the kidnappings which had led them into the woods in the first place, but they would check them out later. For now they simply advised them to leave the woods.  
Tracking Wu was easy, unfortunately they found him after only a few kilometers, alone.  
“The... little… devil… just... kept... running… so… damn… fast...” The Sargent was leaning against a tree, trying to catch his breath.  
“That's what I feared when the Fuchsbau scared him.”  
“He's a child, but he is still a Grimm.” Hank nodded to himself, “including strength, stamina, speed, and hopefully hearing. Nick! Nicky it's safe! You can come back!”  
Renard left the shouting to the other two (because apparently they were nice and he was mean and dammit no he was not upset about that) and tried to find tracks. It would have been difficult at any time, in fall it was nearly impossible. They were seriously considering calling in a large scale search, when a high pitched scream of pure terror echoed through the forest.  
The royal was running before the first scream even stopped, the other two hot on his heals, trusting him to be able to tell the direction.  
A second scream, closer and even more desperate followed the first one, and then a third. The fourth was disrupted by an even shriller, inhuman shrieking. Then silence.  
Renard, knowing full well that he should be more careful, that the other had fallen behind, but there just wasn't any time, jumped down an overhang, crashed through the bushes onto a clearing. A big cauldron was lying beside him, a few meters away stood a fully woged Baba Yaga, skin like the bark of a tree, sharp nose, long, rotten teeth and the skeletal hand with its claw like nails wrapped around the neck of _his_ Grimm. 

With a low growl, the police Captain jumped the creature from behind, wrenching her hands away from the child and pushing her down on the forest floor. The witch trashed wildly under him, scratching her claws over his arms, easily cutting through the sleeves of his coat. Sean was reaching for his handcuffs as something heavy suddenly hit his side, throwing him off halfway over the clearing. The damn cauldron, he should have remembered that Baba Yagas powers were close to that of Hexenbiestern. Nick was huddled beside a tree stump, half hidden between fallen leaves trying to make himself even smaller than he already was in his tiny new form. Renard did not have time to focus on him, as the witch threw her cauldron after him again.  
Evading the projectile this time Sean pulled his gun and shot her clear between the eyes.  
To his surprise, she dropped to the forest floor.  
Cautious approaching the body he could hear Wu and Griffin arrive behind him. Ignoring them for the moment he inspected the body. Or lack of, as it were, since before him only lay a bundle of dirty clothes.  
It did seem to easy.  
“Careful, she might still be around!”  
All three of them had there guns drawn and kept an eye out on the woods around them as they stepped closer to their cursed friend.  
Wu put his gun away and crouched down.  
“Hey there. The bad Lady is gone, you better come with us now.”  
The boy got stumbling to his feet, bright yellow and red leaves stuck to his clothes and hair, face wet from tears, but eyes dry for now.  
Again, the Captain found himself confronted with big innocent gray eyes blinking up at him. Small arms were raised and a quite high, but firm voice demanded:  
“Up.”  
Sean just raised an eyebrow.  
“I thought I was mean?”  
Small arms just reached higher, hand wiggling impatient. The five year old explained to him, clearly thinking him a bit dense:  
“Yes, but you are so mean you scare away the meaner stuff.”


	2. Hank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who gave kudos and commented! *hugs*

Hank tried to keep his attention on their surroundings as they tracked back to the car, the Captain in the middle with an armful of Nick Burkhardt, Wu to his left, Hank on his right. His eyes were however drawn to his partner. The child had his arms wrapped around Renards neck and was occasionally glancing around, before burring his face into the shoulder of the man carrying him.  
This was strange, but if the Detective was honest with himself, not as bad as it could be. Certainly better than Nick being blinded or turned into a Zombie.  
They still had to find the kidnapper and the missing children, but there was little sense in dragging a defenseless boy around with them. Griffin didn't care how much faster or stronger Nick was right now compared with a regular five year old, he clearly had only a vague memory of who they were, and he was understandably scared.  
As they reached the cars the Captain tried to put Nick down, but the boy refused to let go.  
“Come on Burk... Nicky,” Hank had to hide his smile at the awkward way the name came out.  
“Hank and Wu will take you to a nice place and I will go and make sure the mean lady stays away.”  
“No!”  
Finally Renard managed to pry the small arms from his neck, but chubby hands immediately got hold of the lapels of his coat with an iron grip.  
Hank could hear the sound of Wu's mobile camera and had to agree that the picture of the fierce and collected Captain of the Portland Police department holding up a pouting child at eye level had to be saved for posterity.  
“No.” His partner repeated.  
“Why not?”  
Griffin was just about to remind the Captain that reasoning with a five year old might take a bit longer than they had time for, when something in the face of the child changed.  
“The mean Lady went back home. Mean Ladies are really strong at home. You get hurt!”  
They hesitated a moment before the Captain placed Nick back against his shoulder and walked to his car.  
“Her homes, you say?”  
Nick nodded.  
Was that were he had ended up at? Nick had chased after the Baba Yaga alone. He had been supposed to wait for back up, but as always things went wrong. From the report Hank heard from one of the patrol cars, the last kidnapping had been prevented, most likely by his partner. Had he tracked the witch back to her house? Had he already known what he was chasing after? They had only gotten the intel on what they were dealing with from Monroe after loosing contact with Nick. He really did not want to interrogate a five year old. Absurdly, he did not want to cause any bad memories for grown-up-Nick if… when they got him back  
“Okay,” decided the Captain “then we will head to the spice shop first.”

Renard took his car with Nick and Wu in the back, Hank walked to his own, already dialing Nicks home number, hoping that Juliette was there.  
“Hank?” she answered after only one ring, voice tensed. “Is he okay?”  
“Uhm.”  
“Hank!”  
“He is well, but.” Hank hesitated. Oh to hell with it. “He was turned into a five year old by a witch. We going to regroup at Rosalee's.”  
“I… I will meet you there.”

When Hank arrived he could already see Captain Renard's and Juliette’s car parked in front of the shop. However, Juliette was waiting by the door, peeking inside the warmly lit shop.  
“Hey.” Hank greeted her quietly, trying to avoid startling her. Inside, he could see Renard, Wu and Rosalee, the later currently busy with removing breakable jars from the counter. Nick was sitting on said counter, short legs idly bouncing of the wood as he was explaining something very seriously to the Captain. Suddenly, he let himself drop back to look at the Fuchsbau upside down, giggling when she tickled him. Griffin turned away with a grin, which quickly faded once he saw the stricken expression of the vet's face.  
“Juliette?”  
“Hank, I can't… I am a horrible person. I can't..” she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. The Detective glanced back at the scene inside the shop. He was seeing the small child, innocent, cute and adorable. This whole thing definitely brought out his protective instincts, and if he looked at Renard and Rosalee it was the same for them. Not that he was not always worried about his partner, but he also knew that the young Grimm could usually take care of himself. Right now... And suddenly he understood the problem. No one wants to see their lover as a cute, innocent child, no one wants parental feeling for the person they sleep with.  
“No”, he reassured her. “You are right, I don't think Nick would want you to see him like this.”  
Hank drew Juliette into tight embrace.  
“You get him back, please.” she whispers into his shoulder.  
“Of cause we will. We will keep him safe, collect blackmail material and sent him home all grown up by Christmas.”  
Punching him into the arm while whipping away some stray tears from her face, Juliette took one last look into the shop.  
“Thank you. Can you call me?”  
Griffin nodded.  
“Of cause, as soon as we know something new. And in between to keep you in the loop. Listen, Nick told me you are good at researching stuff, can you check what you can find about the home of a Baba Yaga? I will meet you tomorrow and we can go to the trailer to search the books?”  
The Detective could see how much being useful lifted the weighted of Juliette’s shoulders.  
“Of cause. I will do what I can.”  
Giving him a small smile, but not looking back again, she hurried toward her car.  
“Drive careful,” he warned her, because the cop in him knew how worried family members were.

No, this whole thing was not as desperate as the whole Zombie affair, but that didn't mean that there was no potential for the everything to turn out very ugly for his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned more serious than planned, next one will be lighter again. I also want to mention that I do like Juliette and this is not an excuse to get rid of her. I just always see it as strange in de-aged fics with the lovers around.  
> I hope I can update soon, I have all chapter planned now, but year-end-stress is starting, so saddly no promise.


	3. Rosalee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your Kudos and comments and patience!

When Renard and Wu brought the child into her shop, Rosalee was surprised, but had assumed that it was for the case. Which of cause was true to an extend. The police Captain had the boy securely in his arms while the child tried to take in everything in the spice shop at once, craning his neck to get a look at all the shelves and herbs and bottles.  
“Ms. Calvert, we do require your help in looking after what happened with…” Renard paused. “well, with Nick.“  
The Fuchsbau had stared unbelieving at the little face in front of her, shocked, when suddenly the curious gray eyes in the sweet, young face turned into bottomless pits of black horror.  
“Oh my God.”  
“Yes, quite.” Sean agreed as he sat Nick down and turned the sign at her door to 'closed'. For a second she wanted to complain at him taking liberties, but decided that it didn't matter.  
Looking back at the small Grimm in front of her, she was relieved to see that his eyes had turned back to normal.  
“Hello Nick. Do you know who I am?”  
The boy nodded.  
“You always smell nice. And you make ouchies go away!” he beamed up at her.  
Renard picked him up again and sat him on the counter. Rosalee could have sword she murmured something like “Why am I the only mean one?” but decided to ignore him in favor of childproofing the counter instead.

Rosalee watched as Sean Renard tried to get information from the child in front of them. The Captain looked stern, but whenever he realized that he was slipping into police interrogation mode he carefully returned to a calm and friendly voice. From what the Fuchsbau could see he needn’t have worried, Nick seemed not the least bit scared of him.  
The Sargent tried inconspicuously to take photos, until his boss just snatched the phone away and glared at him.  
“Why don't you make yourself useful and help Ms. Calvert, Sargent?”  
“Of cause, sir”, Wu took a random book from the shelf ('Home remedies for furuncle' if she wasn't mistaken) and pretended to read.  
When Sean turned back to the boy, Nick was frowning at him and whispered:  
“Mean.”  
The Captain just sighed and rubbed his temples. Rosalee would give him something against headache later. Maybe overall she should be more surprised by the turn of events, but, well it didn't look to bad so far. She kept reading up on reverse spells, trying not to giggle to much at the interchange before her, tickling Nick under the chin when he ignored his Captain in favor of making faces at her. 

“Do you know where you were before you went into the forest?”  
“I was with mommy and daddy. We was going for hot chocolate. Can I have hot chocolate?”  
“Maybe later if you are good, now-”  
“I'm always good!” Protested the boy, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.  
“Then you should have no problems earning that chocolate, right?”  
Nick turned to her and blinked. He looked like he suspected foul play, so she assured him.  
“Of cause there will be hot chocolate later for good little boys-”  
“I am not that little, I am-” Nick looked down at his hands, wiggled his fingers, frowned and moved his lips in silent counting before declaring:  
“Five! And a bit!”  
Sean nodded. “Well, a five year old boy can hardly be expected to answer difficult questions, but five and a bit? That makes you a big boy, right?”  
Sitting up straight, the child folded his hand in his lap and looked attentive to the half Zauberbiest, he even stopped kicking the counter for a moment.  
“Uh huh.” he agreed.  
“Did you see any other children in the woods?”  
“Nuh huh.”  
“Where you inside her house?”  
“Uh, I fell off.”  
“Off the house?”  
“No,” Nick looked at the captain like he was being silly. “of the front porch. I was sooo high.” The boy tried to show it with his arms, but not being satisfied with the high shown, he got up to stand on the counter and jumped, hands to the ceiling.  
If Hank had not come in at exactly this moment, Rosalee or Sean or Wu might have realized in time that this wasn't going to end well, but as it was they were all too slow to prevent the little Grimm from tumbling of the counter.  
Rosalee ran around the counter, and was relived when she heard the crying. She shooed the men away as she checked her friend over. Nothing seemed broken, and he moved his limbs and head normally, but he would not stop crying. In the end she just sat down with her back against the counter and pulled Nick into her lap, rocking him slightly while he kept wailing.

The bell at the door alerted them of somebody entering, when suddenly Nick jumped up, ran past the other men and launched himself at the newcomer.  
“Wolfy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this was meant to be equal spotlight for all the characters, but Sean kind of pushed his way int the middle ^^.  
> I also kind of confused myself with the tenses, I hope I got them more or less right at the end.  
> Merry Christmas to whom it may concern, and a peacefully and happy time to everyone else too :-)


	4. Monroe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay! On the positive side, I'm half way finished with another Grimm fic that just would not leave me alone, which I will post once I have finished this one.  
> Thank you again, and enjoy!

As Monroe reached the spice shop it was already dark outside. He had went by Bud's place since one of the Eisbieber kids had seen something strange that might have been connected to the ongoing kidnappings. No matter how well they liked Nick, a direct interrogation by the Grimm detective was not a good idea for teenaged Wesen. Not that a Blutbad was much better, but he had tried to be extra nice. In the end he just told the nervous parents to keep their children close for the time being. 

Entering the spice shop, the reformed Blutbad was attacked by a small being crashing into his knees and clinging to his legs.  
“Wolfy!” came a loud screech, as Monroe bend down to detach the child so he could lift it, or him apparently, up.  
“And who are you?” he questioned small boy, dark hair hanging in front of puffy red eyes, nose running and lips trembling.  
Quickly, he shifted the small human onto his hips so he could hold him with one arm and dug out a handkerchief from his backpocket. While helping the boy to blow his nose, he looked over to Rosalee, who comes forward while the three policemen in the room kept back.  
“Monroe, this is Nick, he got cursed, Nicky, you know Monroe?”  
A small head is nodding vigorously.  
“Wolfy!” he announces again and the surprise makes the Blutbad woge, turning puffy red eyes into black abyssal mirrors. Before he can say anything else Nick declares:  
“Wolfy makes everything better!” and snuggles into his shoulder.  
Well what can he possibly say to that? Hank and Wu are giggling in the background, while the police Captain just looks resigned.  
“Wolfy, really? Well...” Monroe gives them a crooked smile. “What does need to be made better?”  
He could have sworn Renard mumbled “Everything apparently.” before taking the lead.  
“We need to find out how to turn Nick back to normal, but there is nothing more we can do today. Wu and I will interview the family that was attacked earlier today, Griffin and Juliette will check the trailer tomorrow. But until we figure this out, Nick need a safe place, and he does seem to be comfortable with you two. You think you can handle him?”  
Monroe bounced little Nick a little bit up and down, making the boy giggle in delight, tears forgotten already.  
“Oh, handle him? Hmm, what do you have in mind? Do you mean like feed and water him, tell him fairy tales and make sure he has a warm and save place to sleep? Like, I don't know, every other day?”  
Rosalee hit his arm, and gave him a rebuking look, but she was holding back a smile, and anyway the hit had been very gentle.  
Renard looked at the small Grimm, and Monroe wasn't sure what he was seeing on the other mans face.  
“Yes, that sounds… maybe a different kind of fairy tale than usual.”

They make it home after a long discussion about safety and the fact that they don't have a child seat for the VW Beetle, which ended with Wu dropping one off without having been asked. That man was possibly the weirdest and creepiest human Monroe had ever met, but he was amazingly good at getting stuff done without drama, something that the rest of them could try sometimes too.

Once back home, it is surprisingly easy to get little Nick into the bathtub. Apparently bubbles are the best thing ever and he only needs help washing his hair. He loves the rubber duck that normally sits on the rim of the tube, it has a bowler hat and a monocle, and a pocket watch tucked under one wing, which of cause was the deciding feature when Rosalee gave it to Monroe a few month ago. The difficult part is getting him out of the bath again. The boy does not seem to feel the water getting rather cold, and Monroe remembers Hank telling him about Nick staying under water in the cold for a case, only to come out fine, but with ashen skin, hardly human. The Blutbad hopes it will not come to that, he does not know how to deal with a pint-sized zombie Grimm, He hadn't known how to handle a normal sized zombie Grimm either, at the time, but at least he was sure he could knock him out without causing much harm.  
But after flooding the whole bathroom, Monroe finally gets a grip on his slippery young charge and lifts him out of the tube. By now they are about equally wet, and the kid is howling in delight. At least one of them is having fun. He wraps Nick into a towel, and only turns around for a second to grab one of Rosalee's old shirts. To long, because the child is gone.  
“Nicky?” Not that he was really expecting an answer.  
Monroe looked up and down the corridor. His sleeves were rolled up but still dripping, knees of his trousers wet and his beard covered in foam. He had already taken his socks off because they were soaked through.  
Now, were would you go if you were a small human boy with seemingly endless Grimm energy, no sense for cold and, assuming that this hadn't changed with the de-aging, the self preservation instinct of a particular careless lemming?  
The Blutbad had just answered the question in his own head, when a loud squeal of delight from the stairs proved him right. Stumbling over his own feet, he sprinted down, only to see the kid sliding down the polished bannisters at an alarming speed, being launched through the air…  
Only to be deftly caught by his (wonderful, perfect, amazing) girlfriend. Rosalee only raised an eyebrow at him before picking up the towel and started drying the hair of the buck-naked little Grimm in her arms.  
“You shouldn't have done this, Nicky. You scared Monroe.”  
Big gray eyes turned toward him.  
“Sorry Wolfy.” He apologized very earnestly.  
He tried to be angry, but really there was no sense in that, he didn't even stay angry at grown up Nick, who was not half as cute as he was now (even through he truly had perfected the kicked puppy look)  
“Just don't do it again.”  
After managing to get him into the shirt, which went down to his knees, they finally got something to eat.  
What they learned was that Nicky could use the potty alone as long a footstool was provided (thanks God) and: NO zucchinis. Zucchini puree was surprisingly difficult to get off the wall. Also: next time first food, then bath. 

While Rosalee was helping Nick to brush his teeth (no drama there, teeth brushing seemed to be taken seriously in the Burkhardt household) Monroe made up the bed in Nick's room. It was funny, it used to be the guest room, but even when other people came over, it was now Nick's room. He hadn't lied when he was talking with the Captain earlier, as a friend, giving the still inexperienced young Grimm a safe place was important to him. The watchmaker could not imagine how Nick and Juliette could still stand to live in their house. How often had it been broken into now? Seriously, the matter with the Siegbarste alone, having his territory breached like that…  
Shaking his head, Monroe finished tucking pillows under the blanket on both sides to prevent the child from rolling off the bed at night.

The last thing they learned that day is that at night, in dreams, the memories come back.


	5. Wu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely re-wrote this chapter 20 times in my head and 5 times on the keyboard. o.O I hope I managed to say what I wanted in the end, and I hope you like it :-)

It had been a week since Nick had been turned into a five year old. They had made little progress. The home of the Baba Yaga, a slavic Wesen, was apparently rather specific. A wooded house, more like a living thing standing on chicken legs, or just one leg, depending on the story. What gave them a bit of hope were Juliette's findings that the witch was not necessary portrayed as evil. Maybe they could reason with her. But until they found her again, they had to deal with the situation at hand.  
Wu could see that Monroe and Rosalee were at the end of their wits. He had seen that Nick was a loud, active child, but from what the Wesen pair was telling the level of noise was nothing compared with the terrified screams that woke them around midnight every night.  
The first night they still thought it was a regular nightmare, a big bad wolf (note the important difference to “Wolfy”) ate a little girl dressed in red. They calmed him down, and by morning Nick didn't remember anything anymore.

The next night it was swarms of rats, then cages, a white lady pulling him under water. It become rather clear that at least in his dream, Nick remembered his adult life. But the life of a homicide detective, much less a Grimm, was nothing that a five year old was in any way prepared to deal with.  
All in all, neither Monroe nor Rosalee were getting enough sleep to do their day job and take care of their friend, much less any time for themselves.  
This was how Drew ended up knocking at the apartment door of his Captain on a Friday late afternoon. His overnight back was slung over one shoulder, Nick's overnight back (mainly with donations from Bud's children, bless that family) in one hand, Nick holding onto his other while also clutching a very fluffy wolf plushy wearing a little brown cardigan and a plaid bandana.  
They decided to watch over him in pairs.  
Captain Renard opened the door and greeted him with a nod before showing them to the guest room. Wu would take the coach in the living room.  
They quietly talked while watching Nick explore the apartment. Whenever he came to something that looked breakable, or a shelf filled with old books, he demonstrative put his arms behind his back, holding one hand in the other, like he want's to say: Look, I'm a good boy, I won't touch anything I shouldn't. Wu snapped a few quick pictures just because.  
Dinner turned into a long discussion, with Nick asking very insistently for mac and cheese (Monroe wouldn't make any) and Renard being appalled by the idea.  
“Please?”  
“No. Pick something with at least one vegetable in it.”  
“But it has cheese!”  
“Cheese is not a vegetable.”  
The pure look of betrayal on Nicks face at that revelation was almost heartbreaking. He looked down, his hands playing with the seam of his bright blue pullover, legs kicking at the sofa. In a very small voice he asked, “No mac and cheese all week?”  
Wu could see the exact second that the tall, strict police Captain gave in. If he wasn't the boss the way his eyes softened when he ruffled Nicks hair promising a compromise would have been adorable. Scratch that, it totally was adorable, boss or not.  
In the end Renard used fresh pasta, real cheese and creme and added spring onions and some cherry tomatoes on the side. Drew has to admit that it was the best mac and cheese he has ever eaten, and Nick seemed to agree as he announce that “comb pro mice mac and cheese” were “the totally best”.

Next came the evening entertainment program. But, as a good Sargent Wu was prepared and had brought his Xbox. The only problem was that apparently Nicolas Burkhardt was the only child in the twenty first century who didn't like console games. Or rather, they were fine for a total of seven minutes before the boy was bored. What he did want to do was move. Constantly. Drew was starting to admit that Rosalees warning about enhanced stamina and limitless energy was not that exaggerated after all. After the third round of hide and seek the Captain retreated into his office to do some paper work, but left the door open, presumably to keep an eye on the two of them.  
It was the fifth round of hide and seek. So far, the score wa 4:0 for Nick (though Wu tried to argue that finding hiding spaces in his size was much harder, but Renard silenced him with one look. A look that clearly translated to: Do. Not. Upset. The. Baby. Grimm.). After checking the bathroom, all the kitchen cabinets, under the sofa and chairs, in the corridor closet and behind the curtains, Drew was running out of ideas.  
Walking by the office door, he heard a low giggle. Taking a second look, he spied the tips of bright neon green socks peeping out under the boss's desk.  
“Captain?”  
“Yes, Sargent?”  
“Have you seen a fugitive around here? Rather on the small side, pretty quick, likes cheese?”  
Renard looked as serious as always, Wu could have asked him about the latest band robbery case for all emotions that he was showing.  
The desk giggled again.  
“Can't say that I have, Sargent..”  
“Oh well then. Nice socks by the way, neon green suits you very well, sir.”  
Not even twitch. Well, except the socks that were pulled under the desk.  
“Thank you. I have a report to finish.”

At half past nine in the evening, the kid was finally washed, teeth brushed and tucked in with his wolf under a thick comforter in the guest room.  
“Thank you for playing with him. I fear I don't really have much of a positive connection with him all things considered.”  
Wu went to sit on one of the armchairs, then thought better of it and sat down next to Renard on the sofa.  
“Sir. Sean. We have been working together how long now? Do you really believe that, do you want to believe that or are you pretending to believe that?”  
That only got him a raised eyebrow.  
“The boy obviously likes you. And kid's aren’t subtle about this stuff. If he didn't trust you he would go to you or want you to pick him up.”  
Renard shook his head “That is only because he expects me to be able to protect him form certain things. That is one thing that hasn't changed with the de-aging. Still there is no sympathy lost between us.”  
“Are we talking about the same Nick here? The one that is still working under you, still goes to you for help, still reports most of his finding to you? And you know, has your back in fights and trust you to have his?”  
“That is professional behavior. This does not mean that we are friends.”  
“No, but that's your choice.”  
“No, Drew, it's Nicks choice. You don't know all the things that I have done.”  
“Does Nick know?”  
“The relevant issues, yes. I know he is very reserved around me, and I can't do anything but give him space and time to come to a decision on where we stand”  
Wu lend back, looking out of the window for some time.  
“You know what's the most important thing to Nick?”  
Another raised eyebrow and the very sarcastic answer, “Friendship?”  
“Nope.” Drew turned so that he could look directly at Sean.  
“Stability. And it's one thing that I want to shake him for. As long as there is the slightest chance that the status quo can be maintained, he is going to try to cling to it. I know all of you think he is such an angel for being a different kind of Grimm, and don't get me wrong, he is a good guy, but the reason why he doesn't chop of heads indiscriminately? Because he is a cop. And the only thing that kept him sane when he started seeing monsters was to fall back on being a cop, act like one, keep to the rules, find the status quo again as close to before as possible. And I am still pissed at him for the way he treated Hank and Juliette and me. For how he let us think we were going crazy. But at the same time I can forgive him because I know it was not malicious, that he was just as scared when he started out as we were. Conscious, he was trying to protect us from a terrifying truth, unconscious he was trying to keep his and our life stable. Not the most noble motivation, but not the worst either.”  
“Well, life is not stable.”  
“Oh yes, do tell him that. Tell that to the guy who lost his parents at twelve, moved to a different city every six month for the next six year and had his complete world turned upside down and murderous once he had finally found a safe haven. It will be such a revelation to him."  
Wu got up and got a beer for both of them.  
“He _knows_ that there is no stability in life. That's why he values it so much. And that's where Hank and Juliette and I came through for him and you didn't.”  
“And what exactly have I failed to do, Drew?” The tension in Renard was clearly visible now, at least for someone who knew him.  
“Hank found out about Wesen and stayed Nicks friend and partner. Juliette found out about Wesen and stayed his girlfriend. I found out and stayed his, well I guess friend and colleague. But when you choose to reveal your identity, you didn't stay the same. You stopped treating him like before.” A sudden thought made Wu frown. “Did you know what he would become when he joined the force?”  
Sean shook his head.  
“I only found out a little while before his aunt showed up in Portland.”  
“So everything before, that was honest, right? Taking an interest in him when he was still on patrol, asking me to show him the ropes, pushing him to take the detective exam, assigning Hank as his partner, because we both know Hank was the best damn choice. That had nothing to do with him being from a Grimm family?”  
“No, that had everything to do with him being a very good cop from the start, and very talented.”  
“And now he is not anymore?”  
“Of cause he is, like you said, he stayed a cop under the most unlikely circumstances.”  
“Then why did you stop being his mentor? Why did you leave him hanging when, no offense to Monroe, you are obviously the best person to teach him about all this stuff? And don't tell me you don't want to, you still bump him in the right direction sometimes, only to leave him hanging again. Did you know that he had a five hour discussion with me and Hank on racial profiling after the zombie incident, about whether or not he's doing it? I only learned a year later what had happened. You forced him to think about how much he valued human lives and Wesen lives, didn't you?”  
Wu took a deep breath. Maybe he had already said to much.  
“What I am saying is, if Nick really didn't trust you he wouldn't work for you anymore. He was always you star pupil and you always were his most valued mentor, why did you stop? Why are you letting this become the new status quo? Because you will have to reach out, Nick is too much of an idiot in this to do it. And from all I have seen so far, Portland is a lot safer with you two working together.”  
The Captain was very quite. Drew decided to cut his losses and went to the guest bathroom to get ready for bed. When he came out, the Captain was gone.

As Monroe and Rosalee predicted, the two policemen were woken at exactly midnight by a blood curling scream. Wu stumblied to his feet and searched for the light switch before making his way to the guest bedroom only to stop by the door.  
Renard was already sitting on the bed, Nick in his lap, little arms tightly wound around Sean's neck. It took forever for the boy to calm down, Renard rocking him gently while Wu got him a glass of warm milk before retreating again to avoid crowding the child.  
“Cold.” Nick said suddenly. The Captain immediately grabbed the comforter and wrapped it around both of them  
“An evil man spit at me and put me in a box and it was cold and dark and scary and cold.” He started hiccuping and crying at the same time. From all the things he could have remembered, he had to remember this!  
“It's okay Nick, you are warm now, and we have light and the evil man is gone.”  
Nick looked and Sean with big teary eyes.  
“Maybe he is under the bed!”  
Wu made his way over to the far side of the bed, but Renard waved him away.  
“Who checks normally under your bed?”  
“Mommy. Sometimes daddy. But mostly mommy, because she is meaner and can scare away the monsters.“  
Drew was glad that he didn’t need to hide his grin as the Captain was checking under the bed for monsters, while Nick was watching him intently, clutching his wolf.  
They just might have misinterpreted the meaning of the word 'mean' in little Nick's vocabulary. And it might be worth to consider that the Baba Yaga was 'mean' and not 'evil'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear your thoughts.  
> Also, one chapter left to go :-)


	6. Juliette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, one more chapter after this one :P  
> Also, sorry for the delay, I got stuck. The future is reaaaally scary. Better think about fictional characters ;-)
> 
> !Attention - Additional trigger warning: mention of suicidal thoughts of background characters.

Juliette got out of the car and looked around. She had arrived together with Hank and Wu, Just behind them Renard was pulling up with Monroe, Rosalee and Nicky. It helped calling him at least a little different. 

They had parked on a clearing in the wood in which Nick had been cursed. They had gotten an invitation form the Baba Yaga herself, of all things.  
They were to bring Nick back to the wood, if they wanted him to be turned back. Of cause, everyone of them thought it was a trap, but so far it was their best chance to either negotiate with her to lift the curse, or to catch and force her. After weeks of searching for another solution, they were not going to pass this one up. 

They had put Nicky back into the clothes they had found him in, as instructed by the witch. However, since by now a light blanket of snow was covering the ground, he was also wearing a pair of Monroe's socks and one of his sweaters over the ensemble. It looked ridiculously cute, especially with the sleeves rolled up to half the length. And it had the side effect that one of the adults had to carry him, which was likely the safer option, since by now they all knew just how _fast_ the little Grimm could be.

Only a few hundred meters into the forest, Nicky got bored.

“Wolfy?” he ask his best friend, whose turn it was to carry him first.  
“Yes?”  
“Are there wolves in the woods?”  
“I don't think so. Maybe?”  
“What about foxes?”  
“Most likely.”  
“And bears.”  
“Well, the Rabe's property is connected to this forest so in a way, yes.”  
“And bunnies?”  
“Um, yes. Pretty sure...” For some reason Monroe blushed.  
“And badgers.”  
“No idea.”

By the time it was someone else turn to carry their small charge, he seemed to have gone through the all possible woodland creatures. 

Safely tucked into Sean arms, he twisted his neck around in an odd angle to be able to look at the man.  
“And bisons?”

To Juliette's surprise, the police captain just smiled and continued to answer just as the Wieder-Blutbad had. She wouldn't have thought him a patient man, not when it came to children. But then, it was not just any child either.

Even through the distracting questions, they had paid careful attention to their surrounding on the entire way. But still the Baba Yaga was suddenly just a few steps in front of them, without any of them sensing her approach. 

“Greetings, travelers.” she said, in an obviously overdone Russian accent.  
Sean did not waste any time, passing Nicky to Hank before stepping in front of him, Rosalee and Monroe flanking him, Juliette and Wu standing back. Wesen in the front, humans in back, Juliette realized. Well except Nick, but she still was not willing to think of him being a Grimm as 'not human'.

“Are you the one who cursed Portland's Grimm?” Renard ask in a way that could only described as official, if one wanted to avoid the word regal, which Juliette very much wanted to avoid.

“No, Captain Renard.” She addressed him. “Though it is an understandable mistake. You are looking for my sister. Though I must warn you, I am the nicest one in the family”

“Do you have anything to do with the disappearance of several children over the last month?” Wu interjected.

"No, Sargent Wu. If I find lost children, I turn them around to go happily home with their family.”

And with that, she pointed further east and disappeared.

Not liking the way this meting had gone, they carefully continued, deeper into the woods. 

“Was that the mean lady?” Rosalee ask Nicky.  
“Nuhu.” He shook his head, but would not say more. 

After a while, the Baba Yaga, appeared again in front of them.

“Greetings, travelers.” she intoned in an even worse faked Russian accent. The group positioned themselves as before, but Nicky was urgently pulling at Juliette's sleeve. She bowed her head down, not taking her eyes of the witch in front of them.  
“Is that the mean Lady, Nicky?”  
He shook his head vigorous 'no'.  
“She is the _evil_ Lady.” He whispered into her ear, obviously scared.  
Suddenly understanding that this was not the same Baba Yaga as before, the redhead saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and kicked Sean in the back of his right knee, making him stumble and causing an unnaturally fast bird of pray to just miss him. Before any of the could move Rosalee had thrown some kind of dust at the witch, making he gag while Monroe, scarf pulled over his nose, woged and put a clawed hand around her neck, squeezing. Wu had drawn his gun and was aiming for the bird, but it disappeared just as fast as it had come. Hank was crouching down, protecting Nick with his body while also drawing his gun.

As fast as it had begun, it was over again. Juliette's heard was beating frantically in her chest, and it was Sean who helped her up from where she had dropped after the awkward kick. From the way he stood, his leg seemed no worse than before.

After making it very clear, much to Juliette's and Wu's unease, that there would be no police procedure or human jury for her should she not cooperate, the Baba Yaga lead them to her home. Having read about it was one thing, actually seeing it in front of them was something else. The chicken leg was anatomically perfect as far as the young veterinarian could see, but it was twice as high as Hank, and it ended in an old wooden hut.

At the call of the witch, five of the lost children climbed down, dazed and seemingly not all there, mentally, but otherwise okay. 

Renard turned to their prisoner “What's with them? Where are the other three? And what do you need to turn my Detective back into an adult?” His patience seemed to be running out. 

“Oh, they will come back to their senses a few hours after leaving my home.” She seemed relaxed now, even through Monroe was still holding her by the neck. “I don't have the others. And I can't turn your Grimm back either, only the one who cursed him can do that.”

No threats could get more information from her. Just as they were about to turn around, together with the recovered children, the first Baba Yaga appeared.

“You!” hissed the kidnapping witch, wrenching herself free with a vicious claw strike that had Monroe howling in pain. Before she could launch herself at her sister, Hank shot her between the eyes, just like Sean had done weeks before. She disappeared as she had back then, but this time, they could hear her materializing inside the chicken hut. When trying to approach the ladder, the front door kept turning away. While Hank and Wu kept an eye on the house and the children and Rosalee took care of Monroe's injury. Sean and Juliette turned to the second Baba Yaga. No, Juliette realized soon after. The third. 

“That is the mean Lady” Nicky whispered to Sean.  
“Now little man, that is not a very nice thing to say.”  
“You don't have an accent.” was the first thing out of Juliette's month, and Sean just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.  
“Of cause I don't have an accent. Our family came here in the 19th century. Not all of us insist on that silly wannabe accent. Mind you, my Russian is perfect. But so is my English. And Polish, by the way. Mother always said I had the most linguistic talent of us three.”  
“Can we concentrate on the matter at hand right now?” Sean interrupted them.  
“Rest of the children, un-cursing the Grimm, getting your crazy sister?”  
“Ah yes, all business as it befits a… police Captain.” She winked at him. Somehow the whole situation was becoming even more surreal.

“Firstly, I had the rest of the children, they are on their way home now. Mind you, I didn't have them locked up in my hut. I took them for a vacation. Sometimes children, mostly teenagers wander around and they have nasty things with them like a back full of pills, or razor blades or a sturdy rope. Nasty. And I take them with me for a vacation from their family, from everything. Mind you, it is shorter then the vacation they were planning to take. And would you belief it, no sooner is a kid gone for a month or two and suddenly people see them and their pain. Funny, isn't it?  
“As for your Grimm.” She shrugged. “Mind you, he was not in the same frame of mind as the children, but I decided that he needed a vacation too. Poor dear. You take away someones ability to hide their nightmares and suddenly people see them and their pain. Funny, isn't it?  
Juliette swallowed, uncomfortable at that revelation.  
“But.” the Baba Yaga continued. “I also had a selfish reason for cursing the Grimm. I was hoping it would make you go after my dear sister. You see, tradition is that one of us three must be evil. But that is just so old fashioned! Since you were not doing a good job of tracking her down, I thought such a tempting victim as a baby Grimm would lead her to you. It took a while, but look? It worked!” She smiled at them, obviously proud.  
Sean sighed, looking very very tired.  
“And how do we get to her now?”  
“Well, I would say, leave it to the expert.” And with that, a large battle ax appeared in her hand, and she threw it to Juliette's left…

… where it was deftly caught by a very confused looking, but very much adult Nick Burkhardt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I twisted the Baba Yaga fairy tale no worse than what the show usually does ^^°
> 
> Feel free to ask if something is confusing. Last chapter will be wrap up and back to cuteness, very little witch buisness left.


	7. Nick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I would finish this soon… Now, exactly two year after the last update… I’m sorry, but here is the last chapter. Enjoy!

Nick had barely a moment to get his bearing before a battle axe was thrown at him. Confused, he caught it and looked around. He was surrounded by not only the Captain, Hank and Wu, who he could remember from moments ago, but also by Monroe, Rosalee, Juliette and a bunch of children. And one of the Baba Yaga! Though if he wasn't mistaken not the one who had attacked him earlier.

Even stranger, the woods had changed. The leaves were covered in a light layer of snow. And he was for some reason wearing a too large jumper on top of his leather jacket. And socks over his shoes?

“Wha…?!”

“First!” The Baba Yaga stopped him. “If you want to keep him like this, don't tell him what happen. Will the incident reoccur? Am I just messing with you? You will never know!” She seemed to have fun, even through she didn't make much sense and was addressing his friends.  
“Secondly.” Now she was talking to Nick. “Your a Grimm. Do your Job.” With that, she vanished.

The whole affair was wrapped up pretty quickly. Nick knew that he had to threaten the hut to get the Baba Yaga to cooperate, and he only needed to take one swing at the chicken leg for her to give up. 

The time after was… a bit strange? Apparently he lost the memory of over a month of his life, which was more than a little disconcerting. His friends assured him that nothing bad had happened, that he hadn’t hurt anyone, and the Captain came up with a cover story, but after the warning of the ‘chaotic neutral’ Baba Yaga (Wu’s term) they all refused to tell him what exactly had been going on. It was driving him crazy! Plus, everyone was acting weird. Except Juliette, she had been wonderful, and, they had celebrated their reunion quite enthusiastically. They also started talking again more, letting the other have a bigger part in each others life. That was a good change.

The other though. Last week, while visiting Rosalee and Monroe for dinner, the Blutbad had placed a plate of zucchini lasagna in front of him, only to snatch it away when Nick picked up his fork, insisting on making the Grimm something different. Honestly, it was far from his favorite, but he would have eaten it, especially with how hungry he was after the long day. Surely Monroe didn’t think he would be that rude?

The same evening, after dinner, Rosalee had taken a wet wipe and started cleaning his hands while their were chatting. He had quickly gotten up and went into the kitchen to help his best friend clean the dishes, wondering if he really was that terrible of a house guest. Or was this a Wesen thing he didn’t know about?

But the behavior was not limited to the Wesen acquaintances. Yesterday, when Nick dropped a pen, and had to crawl under his desk at work to retrieve it, Hank had put his hand between his head and the edge of the desk. When he had looked at his partner questioning, the older man just muttered something about him not being able to afford to loose the few brain cells he had left, which was okay as far as bickering went, but why had he blushed and looked away?

Now, while finishing up the days work, way to late and closer to midnight than sunset, in an almost empty office, Wu dropped of a plushy at his desk to ‘keep him company’. Nick did not expect the Sargent to be not weird, but still. Absent-mindedly brushing a hand though the soft fur of the wolf toy, which apparently had Monroe’s fashion sense, old memories started to stir. There was just something at the edge of his mind, like the first memories you have, the picture of a playground or the sound of a voice. 

Printing his report, Nick got up to hand it to Renard, who was still in his office, doing god knows what. Planning world domination or the coffee budget, one could never know. Knocking at the door frame of the open door, he entered after the Captain waved him in from where he was standing at one of the file cabinets.  
“All done for the night?” the taller man asked, took the report. “Well done.”  
… and then he gave Nick a pat on the head, tousling his hair a bit.  
Both froze and stared at each other in quite shock.  
“Apologises, Detective. I was… lost in thought.”

Nick was about to answer, mainly to ask ‘what the hell?’, when something stopped him. His thoughts went back to his earlier musings. Half forgotten memories of hot chocolate with his parents and playing in an autumn forest with them. But also, and somehow he knew these memories happened impossibly at the same time, of kind strangers, of being wrapped in a warm blanket and…

“Thanks for the mac ‘n’ cheese.”

Before the Captain could answer, Nick turned around and left the station. He wasn’t completely sure what happened in that month, but he was fairly convinced that it had left him very vulnerable, and all of them, Juliette, Monroe and Rosalee, Hank and Wu, and most significantly, Captain Renard had kept him safe. Maybe, with all the chaos that happened in his life, he could lean on his friends more than he thought he was allowed to. And maybe on his mentor too?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big Thank You to everyone who left comments and kudos to this story! It wouldn’t have been finished if I hadn’t gotten the regular reminder that it’s still there, waiting.


End file.
